Meet Lori Goldstein & Alison Verplaetse

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lori Goldstein & Alison Verplaetse and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lori & Alison, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Lori Goldstein: At a young age, I always found myself drawn to creative pursuits. I loved making things – not display-worthy items – but crafted items strewn together from the imagination…crafts, costumes, coming up with ideas for themed celebrations. While I never considered myself an artist in the traditional sense, I always enjoyed being surrounded by materials in art studios, artworks in museums and galleries, and people who were creatives in spirit if not in practice. These interests eventually morphed into a pursuit to study visual culture through an art history degree, and professional opportunities arose from those pursuits. I held positions working alongside artists and art historians as an artwork cataloguer, a business assistant for artists, and a gallerist. Embedding myself in the ecosystem of the creative field, not as the one creating the artwork, but as a piece in the puzzle in bringing artworks to life, I found my true place in the art world with a keen interest in public art – a place where I could be both involved in the creative spirit of art-making between the worlds of studio art practice and the community.

Alison Verplaetse: Even though my career path has been a bit circuitous, art and creativity have always been a part of my work as well as my personal life. Art has always brought so much good into my life: at different times experiencing art has inspired me to create myself, to feel peace or joy, to take action, or just feel more connected and aware of the world. Pursuing a creative career felt very organic, but for me it has taken on many forms over the years: art librarian, book and paper conservator, sculpture fabricator, exhibit designer, until finally finding my home as the archivist for the Public Art Archive. I gained a deep respect for the ethos of public art when I was building and installing sculptures earlier on in my career. I knew I wanted to continue to be a part of the public art field because I really believe in the galvanizing power of free, accessible community art.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Together, we run the Public Art Archive™ (PAA). PAA is a free online database of public artworks throughout the U.S. and abroad that provides universal access to discover and learn more about public art across communities. Today our platform includes almost 30,000 artworks from around the world, and we’re growing every day. Every artwork has its own page where you can browse photos, details, and other artworks nearby, and each artwork’s location is pinpointed on our interactive maps. We love recommending PAA to everyone we know when they’re traveling or exploring local–public art is an amazing lens for getting to know a city and its culture.

PAA is powered by Creative West (formerly WESTAF), a 50-year-old nonprofit arts service organization based out of Denver. PAA was built with the mission to make public art more public and a vision to serve and support artists, administrators, consultants, planners, educators, researchers, and audiences of all ages and backgrounds. When the project began in 2012, there was no singular website to learn about public art in its varied forms across communities. To build a truly comprehensive resource, we invited artists and organizations to contribute public art projects to the public engagement portal at no cost (we don’t crowdsource data so we can ensure, to the best of our abilities, that all information is vetted and accurate). We believe that by making all projects discoverable on one platform, we can build a community that collaboratively increases the accessibility and visibility of public art everywhere. We’re incredibly proud to say that today we are the largest source of public art information in the world.

The Public Art Archive grows every day, but it hasn’t always been as easy as it is today. In the early days of the program, public art administrators would send photographs and spreadsheets of data on CD-Roms, and we would upload each artwork individually, plugging away one-by-one and excited when another collection wanted to take part in this collaborative effort. Adding artwork to the database was slow moving, and it could be challenging in the beginning to spread the word and get buy-in from public art communities across the country. Of course, things have changed since then, and we (thankfully!) have tools that make adding artworks to PAA much more streamlined. Over the years we’ve also expanded the types of public art collections represented on PAA: we began our outreach with city public art collections, but today our platform also includes public art from universities, transit departments, non-profits, and private entities that commission public art. We also accept submissions from artists, whose portfolios can be represented alongside major collections. Our mission is to showcase all public art on equal footing, regardless of the notoriety of the artist, significance of the site, type of art, or collection the work belongs to.

As the program expands, so does our portfolio of tools and services we offer for free or at an accessible price to help financially sustain the public engagement portal. In 2018, we launched a Collection Management System (CMS) to support the needs of public art administration, documentation, and project management, and we now work with organizations throughout the country who use our CMS to manage their collections. We also build online showcases that highlight some of the amazing projects that are housed in the Public Art Archive. Some of our favorites are: This We Believe: A Citywide Mural Project from Mural Arts Philadelphia and Belmar History + Art Project in collaboration with the City of Santa Monica.

While so much has changed – our process, platform, audiences, networks, and offerings – we are most proud that the Public Art Archive engagement platform has remained a free resource for all. PAA is free to explore and free to contribute to, upholding our mission to make public art more public.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If a friend is flying into Denver, we always recommend taking some time to check out the amazing public art at the airport. Love it or hate it (we love it), Luis Jimenez’s Mustang is a must-see icon of Denver. We also love Thomas “Detour” Evans’ brand new piece in the B Terminal, It’s Not What You Take, It’s What You Bring Back, and so many others in the airport and along the light rail into the city.

If your friends say they want to feel like they are in the mountains (but maybe don’t want to gain too much altitude or go on a major all-day hike), we take them to Golden Gate Canyon State Park just outside of Golden. Immediately the landscape changes from flat city views to steep red canyon walls with a rushing creek below, and you can likely catch a glimpse of climbers–something that’s always fun to watch in person. If there’s time to make a road trip to Colorado Springs, we love taking friends to James Turrell’s Skyspace. It’s a perfect combination of art and nature–a short hike in the mountains to an immersive, meditative art experience by the founding father of Light & Space art. It’s always amazing, but especially at sunset!

In town, we love to hang out and walk around in City Park – it’s a great place to check out the Museum of Nature and Science, the new Nature Playground if you’re travelling with kids, or just walk around the lake to get an amazing skyline view. If you’re here on a Sunday – the Farmer’s Market at City Park is fun. If you’re looking to stop at an art museum, the Kirkland is one of our favorites. Another spot we love in Denver is Burns Park–it’s an unassuming little park with a bunch of mid-century sculptures that are fun to walk around. We always like to point out Anthony Magar’s piece here; Alison was part of the team that fabricated the conservation reproduction standing in the park today.

When it comes to refreshments, for breakfast or lunch we head over to Zaidy’s in Glendale or the Denver Vegan Van in Park Hill–the vegan crunchwrap is unbelievable. For drinks, check out Thin Man near City Park or have a late night coffee at St. Mark’s next door. For dinner – Luca’s Italian in the Governor’s Park neighborhood or Coperta in Uptown (grab a drink at Horseshoe Lounge afterwards if you like a dive bar feel).

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Lori: My first shoutout goes to Carolyn Braaksma. Carolyn is an amazing public artist who gave me my first professional role in public art by bringing me on as her business assistant. Carolyn brought me into her studio, taught me the complex process of managing public art from the business side and let me be a part of her studio and practice where I really fell in love with the field. She has become like family to me, and without her I wouldn’t be where I am today. My next shout out goes to Elaine Paul – the Visual Resources Center Specialist at the University of Colorado Boulder who hired me as the Graduate Assistant. I learned the ins and outs of database management and cataloguing, and she was instrumental in helping me get my gig as an early contractor to the Public Art Archive. Another shout-out to Rachel Cain, who was my predecessor at the Public Art Archive and hired me as a contractor in the early stages of the program as I helped build the initial inventory for the program. My final shoutout goes to my wonderful colleague Alison Verplaetse – without her the Public Art Archive wouldn’t be what it is today! Her work ethic and dedication has pushed me to continue to help me build the program to where the program is today.

Alison: I have to give a huge shoutout to Mandy Vink, my dear friend who changed my life by giving me my first peek into the public art world through a (paid!) internship with Denver’s public art program way back in 2012. I have so much gratitude for Marc Hudson and Emma Schmidt, former colleagues and creative collaborators turned lifelong friends–their integrity, insightfulness, and steadfast encouragement have brought so much positivity into my life. And I definitely want to shout out Lori Goldstein, my incredible boss at the Public Art Archive–I’m thankful every day to be her teammate and continuously inspired by her passion for public art. I’m so proud of all we’ve accomplished as a team, and I’m excited to continue building on our work.

And, of course, together we want to thank all of our Creative West colleagues – without their support and expertise, none of the work we do at the Public Art Archive would be possible.

Website: https://publicartarchive.org

Instagram: @paarchive

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PAArchive

Youtube: @publicartarchive